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Billions stolen in wage theft from US workers

theguardian.com

151–160 of 457 posts

Re: Billions stolen in wage theft from US workers

#151
I believe it is a difficult to avoid byproduct of a competitive society (so basicly all). Contractors/suppliers compete with lower price that need to be balanced some way, employees compete with their willingness to work cheaper or more to have any kind of income at all sometimes. Some do it for greed only, employee and employer alike. I know someone, well paid construction engineer, who was willing to get into a shady situation so both his employee and himself can save on taxes, sharing financial gain of pretending non-employment relationship. This involved payment in bulk for months of work which at a financial downturn ended up in not getting paid - along multitude of exuses and promises - loosing almost 2 years of work worth of money for the engineer and the need to find someone else to work for in a desperate time risking the livelyhood of his family. Meanwhile his previous 'partner' in crime of course fluorished instead of sharing the loss too after the benefits. The engineer had no means to do anything being an accomplice for long, both dependent on the partner's payment but without any small means to put pressure on them. Exposed completely.

It is too easy to be smartass about someone else's life and situation but since individual employees are always more fragile than organizations the best to avoid extreme competition advantages like above and have reserves for situations when an organization stops paying - e.g. being on the brink of collapse - so one can have better position of pressuring by not working until payment arrives in parallel of looking for other possibilities in case the likely eventuality of loosing job comes.

Of course this is what is almost impossible to achive for most, especially for the most vulnerable: there will always someone to take the place of 'troublesome' employees, sometimes for less or offering more. As a product of desperation (in lack of reserves and possibilities but the need of buying food for the family). Shady figures exploit this. Unity against exploitation would help but we rather compete to raise above others.

Re: Billions stolen in wage theft from US workers

#152
post #68

People thinking wage theft only affects lower wage workers, let me tell you how tech companies commit wage theft: 1. Having annual components to wages (RSUs, bonuses), making you work all year and firing you just before they have to pay you. 2. Having no overtime for salaried employees 3. Having employees work extra responsibilities that are not part of the job description by promising promotions and then not giving…

Don't forget illegal collusion to lower wages, like the one top Silicon Valley firms carried out 10 year ago: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-Tech_Employee_Antitrust_L...

I’m pretty sure a major reason for the current form of big tech interviews is to slow the rate of job-hopping, to suppress wage growth.

Re: Billions stolen in wage theft from US workers

#154
post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which incident receives media coverage as it happens?

Given the breathless reporting of "MAJOR CHAIN STORE SHUTS DOWN SINGLE BUSINESS DUE TO EXTREME THEFT", yeah. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/as-retailers-close-stores-... https://www.npr.org/2023/09/28/1202264923/major-retailers-bl... https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/19/target-store-closures-theft-... https://www.cbsnews.com/news/target-closing-stores-2023-san-... https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/26/business/target-retail-t…

The Target store closings (in Seattle) were not due to violence/theft but rather a cost cutting measure; Target lied.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/19/target-store-closures-theft-...

Re: Billions stolen in wage theft from US workers

#156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Having no overtime for salaried employees This is just the definition of "salaried employee".

The whole idea of salary is ridiculous. The FLSA needs to be fixed so that forcing workers to work 24/7 is explicitly banned. This is particularly true for workers whose jobs are computer based. Companies think they can pay one shift of workers to keep the computers running 24/7. It should not be that way. If a company wants its computing infrastructure running 24/7 it should pay for 3 shifts of workers. If not then…

See the European Working Time Directive for a good example of how this can be enacted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_Time_Directive_2003

NB a lot of employers will ask you to sign a contract self-excluding you from its protections on your first day. ("it's not mandatory, we'd just like everyone to sign it :)" )

Re: Billions stolen in wage theft from US workers

#157

So, you're telling me yet another intervention, this time minimum wage fiat, doesn't work? Who could have thought?

Are you a libertarian? Much wage theft is not paying for time worked - a violation of one of the sacred Contracts you little rascals love so much.

Re: Billions stolen in wage theft from US workers

#158

One of the clearest illustrations of the deeply injust structural power imbalance at the heart of our economic system is wage theft. If your employer withholds $20 from your paycheck it's a civil violation of contract law. You have to go through an extremely onerous and convoluted process that very likely won't go anywhere. If, in response, you decide to pay yourself by taking $20 from the till, that's criminal theft…

That's b/c they are entirely different situations. You can't "pay yourself" taking money from the till, it isn't pay, it's just theft you justify taking from the wages you believe you are owed. You are only owed those wages on the basis of a contract, and that contract won't allow you to take anything from the till. Theft is "the dishonest appropriation of property belonging to another with the intention to permanent…

What you're saying makes sense from a procedural sense, but the article pointing out that there's 50B in stolen wages means that the punishment for wage theft isn't aligned with what's needed. In fact, the power imbalance between employer and employee means that it's far harder to for employees to recover their wages or punish the other party -- which, to me, means that the state needs to do even more to help.

Re: Billions stolen in wage theft from US workers

#159
post #106
post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is the US responsible for Mexicans raping other Mexicans? Is it our responsibility to stop all bad things from happening or just those that happen in Mexico? Should we have a police force on Mexican soil?

I can't see "US" and "Mexico" from space. Mexicans are US Americans human neighbors.

> I can't see "US" and "Mexico" from space.

You are speaking with an adult. These arguments do not work on me. I pay income tax to the US, not Mexico, and if I don't, the US throws me in a real prison cell. Countries are very real to me.

Re: Billions stolen in wage theft from US workers

#160
post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hell, I worked at $retailer for a time, and even their statements were to "DO NOT ENGAGE SHOPLIFTERS". Worse yet, I can scarcely imagine some $12/hr being told to chase after shoplifters... That's gonna end up being shot or shivved. And frankly, there were times in which I saw people steal food. And in those cases, I never saw a thing! Especially when formula was being "acquired". One time, during Black Friday, someo…

You do realize that people who steal formula use it to cut drugs? https://city-attorney.columbus.gov/pdf/press/babyformulaband... There are a lot of organizations that give out formula for free but not at scale required for nefarious uses.

Low income mothers can get formula from the government.

https://www.fns.usda.gov/wic

It was probably all theft to exchange for drugs.

During the pandemic there was a formula shortage and allowing theft rather than punishing it probably ensured some children went without unnecessarily.

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